Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Ministry of Education and Research Helsinki Consulting Group Ltd KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

PROJECT Development of Education Policy Concerning the Integration of Information Technology and Communications in the Pre-University Romanian Education System

Activity 1
Technical Requirements of Educational Software Report
Composed by Carmen Holotescu August, 2007

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Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... 3 1. Aims, Methodology and Rationale .................................................................................................. 4 1.1. Aims ......................................................................................................................................... 4 1.2. Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 4 1.3. Rationale................................................................................................................................... 4 2. ICT infrastructure ............................................................................................................................ 7 2.1. Arguments ................................................................................................................................ 7 2.2. Suggested actions and systems ................................................................................................. 7 3. Open Source Software ..................................................................................................................... 9 3.1. Arguments ................................................................................................................................ 9 3.2. Suggested actions and systems ............................................................................................... 11 4. Educational Content OER, proprietary solutions, transparency, quality criteria ........................ 12 4.1. Arguments .............................................................................................................................. 12 4.1.1. Open Educational Resources .......................................................................................... 13 4.2. Suggested actions and systems ............................................................................................... 15 5. Collaboration and Sharing Web2.0 technologies ........................................................................ 17 5.1. Arguments .............................................................................................................................. 17 5.2. Suggested actions and systems ............................................................................................... 19 6. Personalisation of Learning Virtual Learning Environments, eAssessment, ePortfolios .......... 20 6.1. Arguments .............................................................................................................................. 20 6.2. Suggested actions and systems .............................................................................................. 20 6.3. Proposed structure for an integrated online system for schools ............................................. 21 7. Teachers Training flexibility, online courses, new technologies ................................................ 23 7.1. Arguments .............................................................................................................................. 23 7.2. Suggested actions and systems .............................................................................................. 23 References .......................................................................................................................................... 25

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AEL ARACIP CNFP CPD Education Assistant for High Schools Agency for the Quality in Undergraduate Education National Board for Teacher Training Continuing Professional Development

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DE EC EU FLOSS ICT IES IT MCIT MERY OECD OER OS SEI TTH WB

Distance Education European Commission European Union Free / Libre Open Source Software Information and Communication Technologies Institute for Educational Sciences Information Technology Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Ministry of Education, Research and Youth Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Open Educational Resources Open Source Software Sistem Educational Informatizat - Education Based IT System Teacher Training House World Bank

1. Aims, Methodology and Rationale 1.1. Aims As stated in the Consultant's ToR, the aim of this report is to specify the technical requirements for the educational software, in accordance with the identified needs, including the results of the research realized in Activity 4. The final technical requirements will be delivered at the same moment as the research report, which shall be part of the bidding documents prepared by the MCIT-PMU for the bidding process in order to award the contract for supply and installation of the educational software ( digital content ). In this draft report, the Consultant provides proposals for software systems needed in education in general and related actions, not only for educational software. Based on the feedback from PMU and the project team, the Consultant will give more specifications on the agreed parts of the report. Note: There is not a common understanding on the term Educational Software. It can be considered similar with Educational Technologies, i.e. all software designed or used to facilitate teaching and learning or computer software whose primary purpose is teaching or self-learning. In this report the first definition is considered. 1.2. Methodology The proposals of this report are based on: The Pilot School Survey Analysis The Pilot School Pilot Program and its evaluation

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School visits Policy documents and reports available through the MCIT/PMU and the MERY Research-based documents accessible through the Internet European benchmarks, priorities, programmes, projects, trends related to ICT in education European Schoolnet, Insight Service reports OECD, UNESCO reports Innovative projects in the EU. 1.3. Rationale The Education & Training 2010 programme consists of common objectives for the improvement of education and training systems and a work programme to achieve the EUs Lisbon strategy objectives [9]; the programme was adopted by Ministries of Education from the EU, and thus being a programme of MERY too. It is implemented through the open method of coordination and indicators and benchmarks play an important monitoring role and provide support to the exchange of experiences and good practices. Member States are responsible for the organisation and content of education and training systems. The role of the European Union is to support them. The indicators and benchmarks are structured by reference to eight key policy domains identified within the strategy [10]. These are ( in italics those related to pre-university education ): 2.1. Improving equity in education and training - core indicators for this policy area: 1, 2, 3, 13 2.2. Promoting efficiency in education and training 19 ( related document Study on the returns to various types of investment in education and training ) 2.3. Making lifelong learning a reality ( note: for teachers training ) - 9, 16, 17 2.4. Key competencies among young people core indicators cover the following key competences: literacy in reading, mathematics and science, language skills, ICT skills, civic skills and learning to learn skills - 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 2.5. Modernising school education 3, 10, 11, 12 2.6. Modernising vocational education and training (the Copenhagen process) 9, 13 2.7. Modernising higher education (the Bologna process) 14, 15, 19 2.8. Employability 17, 18, 20. Below there are the 20 core indicators for monitoring progress towards the Lisbon objectives in education and training, which represent priorities for Romanian education and training systems too: 11) Schools as multi-purpose local learning centres ( Schools and training centres, all linked to 2) Special needs education the Internet, should be developed into multi3) Early school leavers purpose learning centres accessible to all. Presi4) Literacy in reading, mathematics and science dency Conclusion Lisbon (2000) ) 12) Professional development of teachers and 5) Language skills trainers 6) ICT skills 13) Stratification of education and training sys1) Participation in pre-school education

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7) Civic skills 8) Learning to learn skills 9) Upper secondary completion rates of young people 10) School management

tems 14) Higher education graduates 15) Cross-national mobility of students in higher education 16) Participation of adults in lifelong learning 17) Adults skills 18) Educational attainment of the population 19) Investment in education and training 20) Returns to education and training

The European benchmarks for 2010 used to monitor progress of the Lisbon's strategy objectives in the field of education and training [10]: 1) No more than 10% early school leavers 2) Decrease of at least 20% of the share of low-achieving pupils in reading literacy 3) At least 85% of young people should have completed upper-secondary education 4) Increase of at least 15% of the number of graduates in mathematics, science and technology, with a simultaneous decrease of the gender imbalance 5) 12.5% of the adult population should participate in lifelong learning The Key competencies that should have been developed by the end of the compulsory schooling or training, and should act as a foundation for further learning as part of lifelong learning [11]: Communication in the mother tongue Communication in a foreign language Mathematical literacy and basic competences in science and technology Digital competence Learning to learn Interpersonal and civic competences Entrepreneurship Cultural expression. Indicators related to ICT in schools in i2010 - Annual Information Society Report 2007 [12]: number of computers connected per 100 pupils - 4.5 7.5 in pilot schools; 9.9 in EU25 percentage of schools with broadband access - 44% in RO; 67% in EU25

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percentage of teachers having used the computer in class during the last 12 months - 40% in pilot schools; 74.3% in EU25. Annual Information Society Report 2007 underlines that the information society is becoming a reality, the importance of web2.0 technologies and user-created content: emerging technological trends such as the migration towards very high-speed networks, ubiquitous wireless technologies, web 2.0, the Internet of Things, Grids, new network architectures, web-based services, user interfaces, user-created content and social networking. These trends will affect the business and working environment, providing new industrial opportunities and new solutions for eBusiness and employment, thus improving the work-life balance. They will also extend the role of users as innovators. This is already visible in the explosion of user-created content. 2. ICT infrastructure 2.1. Arguments Since 2001, the MERY SEI programme has equipped schools with modern networks [1-7]. The Knowledge Economy programme has provided already modern equipment to 17 pilot schools in rural areas, and the number of schools is increasing. There are still a lot to do in this domain in order to reach the indicators of EU25 [12], and to eliminate the discrepancy between the schools in urban and rural areas, and also the large differences between the primary / lower secondary education and upper secondary education. Recent Romanian and European surveys and studies prove a positive impact of using ICT following a pedagogical approach on students motivation and skills, independent learning and teamwork. Embedded, reliable and high capacity broadband in the classrooms, the use of interactive whiteboards increase the quality and quantity of educational activities that can be undertaken [6,15,18]. 2.2. Suggested actions and systems 1. The number of computers, especially in the rural areas, should be increased at least at the value of the EU indicator of number of computers connected per 100 pupils: 11.3. 2. More computers should be located in classrooms, in libraries, in teachers rooms. 61% of EU25 schools provide computers in classrooms. 3. Investigate the possibility to provide to schools presentation toolkits consisting of ( wireless ) computer / laptop, projector and interactive whiteboard for be used in the classrooms. 4. The provision of other ICT equipments could be taken into account: whiteboards, laptops, printers, projectors, PDAs, scanners, digital video cameras. 5. Broadband access for schools should be provided now 44% of Romanian schools are connected, while 67% in EU25. 6. Assure ICT support and maintenance: extend the possibility that schools sign contracts for ICT support or maintenance with professional ICT service providers. 7. Create a website for ICT support ( on MERY or MCTI websites ):

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with tutorials, FAQ ( both could be organized as wiki ), live chat, discussions forums, online courses for administrators, technical staff, teachers who want to improve their knowledge, presentation of free and open source solutions, download area, blogs of practitioners, RSS feeds. 8. A methodology and a specific online integrated system are needed to the ongoing monitoring and evaluation quantitative and qualitative of ICT use and impact in education ( ARACIP makes no references to the ICT evaluation and doesn't have an online system for evaluation ). Such a methodology is needed to inform decision makers on whether to expand or modify a particular policy or programme and develop future actions. The online system could offer the possibility to schools to evaluate the grade in which ICT is used and to suggest future steps. The system to implement the European indicators and benchmarks [10], Romania has to report in EU and international programmes. 3. Open Source Software 3.1. Arguments Open Source, a term proposed in 1998, refers to a set of principles and practices that promote the access to the process of planning and implementing various products, resources. The term is mostly used for software. Among the 10 characteristics of the open source software ( http://opensource.org ), the most important are: Free Redistribution - the software may be redistributed freely or sold, it may be a component of other products, Source Code - sources are available, Derived Works - the software may be modified and distributed under the same terms as the original one, and Distribution of License. A wider term is FLOSS ( or FOSS ) - Free Libre Open Source Software. The benefits of open source software as concluded by UNESCOs International Institute for Educational Planning and by the symposium organized by the European Commission [34,35]: adaptable functionality lower overall costs vendor independence, increases choice and competition increases transparency adherence to open standards

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positions software as a public good interoperability and security. IDABC - Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services of European Commission has an Open Source Observatory, providing OS guides, case studies, resources, news [33]. In January the Commission has approved the EUPL v.1.0 - Public License, an Open Source Software (OSS) Licence, to be used for the distribution of software developed in the framework of the IDABC programme - http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/6523. Of course, the Linux Operating Systems is the best known OS software and the Linux user communities are the most active. The same, the LAMS technologies ( Linux, Apache, PHP, MySQL ) for developing Web applications are very well known. But open source software means a large area of systems, applications and tools, which can be used in schools, and in other educational institutions for: operating systems Web and mail server applications desktop applications applications and tools to edit text, images, audio and video files, to develop programs communication and collaboration systems. The recommendations of the EU for educational policies are to avoid lifelong vendor lock-in in educational systems [32]: by teaching students skills, not specific applications; the learners should be supported to abstract concepts from the tool. When learning with FLOSS they are given the opportunity to implement their own ideas and often improve existing functionality by encourage participation in FLOSS-like communities, thus adding value to the skills learnt by students, such as an attitude towards information technology that favours the ability to create and actively participate and collaborate rather than just consume. Open source software is based on and uses open formats, and for this, it is used to create open educational resources. A non-mandatory policy to stimulate the usage of FLOSS in education would encourage the students to: have a critical point of view on the different software solutions; understand better what is FLOSS and its differences with proprietary software; possibly become active contributors at various levels to a FLOSS tool. Why Europe Needs Free and Open Source Software in Schools is an EUN Insight report that suggests four areas where school communities can make a use of open source [38]: use of free software for educational purposes use of GNU/Linux on desktops and servers common development of Virtual Learning Environment and Content Management Systems co-development of open educational content. Initiatives related to OS could be met in almost all the countries of EU, such as [36-40]:

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the Ministries of Education from Belgium, Ireland, Slovenia have an explicit role in promoting the use of open source software as an alternative choice for schools Ministry of Education and Culture from Hungary states as measure in its educational policy an Open source initiative to gap the digital divide and support the entire teaching profession open source software is a key element in Norwegian ICT-strategy: educational courses on this subject are offered at college, university level, and in further education. the government of Catalunya has recently started distributing a (partly locally developed) Catalan language distribution of GNU/Linux tailored for educational use to 120 000 desktops in schools in UK, Becta published many reports and evaluated the use of OS in schools; OSS Watch promotes provides advice and guidance to UK higher and further education for OS. European Schoolnet has many projects and reports related to OS Xplora, European Schoolnets science portal, offers schools a package of software to make science accessible to schools. The interest and use of open source software by teachers, pupils, and students in Romania is very important, but there are mainly personal initiatives [41-43]. Many Linux and LAMP users are active in user groups, building online communities, with online support, discussions forums, but also periodical f2f meetings. Romanian Linux distributions were developed by teams formed by young students. A lot of workshops and conferences in which actors from educational system participate take place, such as Linux and Virtual Learning Environments at University Vasile Goldis Arad ( http://www.uvvg.ro/lvle, with 5 editions ), Linux Open Alternative Days ( LOAD http://www.load.ro ) or the International Conference eLiberatica organized by Romanian Open Source Initiative ( http://www.rosi.ro ). The teachers in the 17 pilot schools use many OS or free applications, such as Linux or OpenOffice, as resulted from the survey. A special topic in the pilot program was the use of OS for collaboration and for creating educational materials. This important issue of open source sofware and its benefits for education were not the subject of a concrete initiative or programme of MERY or MCIT. Browsing the overview of the eGovernment situation and progress in EU Member States http://www.epractice.eu/factsheets on the new EU site related to eGovernment http://www.epractice.eu, one can find initiatives related to Open Source in public sector in almost all coutries; not also in the factsheet about Romania http://www.epractice.eu/files/media/media_720.pdf. 3.2. Suggested actions and systems Some specific actions related to open source software could be: implement pilot programmes in schools to evaluate the using of OS encourage the use of open source software in schools and in educational institutions for operating systems, applications, for virtual learning environments and content management systems, for open educational content development

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the training programmes for teachers and administrators to contain open source solutions presentations and applications, not only proprietary solutions teach pupils and students skills, not specific applications; the ICT and Technological Education manuals to present both proprietary and OS solutions implement a dedicated website ( or an area on the Ministry's website ) which provides technical support, download area, best cases sharing, online communities for actors from education systems and other practitioners organize ( be partner ) round tables, conferences related to open source software equip schools with DVDs containing OS software and guides partnership with organizations which activate in OS, with user groups. 4. Educational Content OER, proprietary solutions, transparency, quality criteria 4.1. Arguments Educational content development is one of the priorities for investment, especially for the countries with a satisfactory level of infrastructure and connectivity in schools. Ministries of Education in Europe have adopted different approaches for content development, usually all the approaches are applied in a specific grade [17]: by encouraging schools and teachers to develop their own electronic content such as Teacher Education Exchange, UK - http://tre.ngfl.gov.uk, Open Idea, Finland http://www.edu.fi/openidea, Didactic.ro, in our country http://www.didactic.ro by investments in digital resources provided by educational software companies such as Curriculum Online, UK http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk, Sulinet Portal, Hungary http://www.sulinet.hu, AeL Educational Materials, in Romania http://portal.edu.ro/materiale_ael3/interfata.html by setting up major partnership with publishers, broadcasters, libraries, cultural institutions to provide access to their own resources; BBC Schools - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools, and BBC Twinning - http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass - are wonderful such examples by participating in projects developing open educational resources, encouraging teachers and students to use, validate, and create such resources. The resources could be accessed from a single educational portal or distributed in more repositories. The most important issues in the policy domain of educational resources are: to assess and assure the quality - European Quality Observatory was set up to assist this issue [50] to accommodate them with the curricula to integrate them in the process of teaching- studying-learning to provide services for effective search and discovery intellectual property licenses to be respected to assure the sharing of best practices

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to realize a balance between the investments and the usefulness for the educational process to encourage a competitive market, guarantee transparency of supply and equal opportunities to market actors. As resulted from the survey and work with the pilot schools, in spite that teachers create a lot of didactic materials, very seldom the materials are shared, validated in discussions with others or create in a collaborative way. The AeL materials are not used on a large scale. The teachers are not aware about the OER or licences such as Creative Commons, don't have the necessary skills to search materials in repositories and to evaluate their quality.

4.1.1. Open Educational Resources In Europe and worldwide there are developed many projects concerning the Open Educational Resources - OER, which are the subject of numerous debates, studies, policies and educational priorities. The term Open Educational Resources - OER was adopted at the UNESCO Forum in 2002, following the analysis of the impact that the Open Courseware projects had on higher education [44]. The definition adopted for the OER was: "The open provision of educational resources, enabled by information and communication technologies, for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for noncommercial purposes." The open educational resources - OER - include: materials ( content ) for teaching - learning: open courseware and open content projects , free courses, learning objects directories, educational journals open source software - for the development, use, reuse, research, organisation and access to the resources; these also include virtual environments ( LMS - Learning Management Systems ), learning communities intellectual property licenses promoting the open publication of the materials, such as Creative Commons, design principles and good practices, the localisation of the content. Information technologies enable educators to access and exchange online resources. Until a few years ago, most of the materials created were protected, the authentication of the users being needed. Nowadays, most of the resources are created and posted freely on the Web, by using the collaborative systems Web 2.0. Just like the FLOSS enables the users to reuse / modify the software, the OER allow users to adapt the materials and systems necessary for the self teaching / learning necessities. Recent European documents, like the studies of the project OLCOS - Open e-Learning Content Observatory Services, show the importance of the OER for the formal education, but also for the continuous education, for acquiring competences and knowledge that could allow teachers and students to take part actively in the society and economy based on knowledge [47]. The OER imply a fundamental change in the educational process, favouring the focus on the student. The open educational resources are generally characterised by the following attributes [47]:

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the access to open materials - open content - is free for educational institutions and individual users the content is licensed so that it may be reused / modified during educational activities; to this end, the content observes open standards and formats educational applications are open-source - the source is available and it can be modified / adapted or interfaces are made available - APIs - enabling the creation of new applications. The use of the OER brings the following advantages for regional, national and European educational institutions and networks: they ensure a long term background for collaborating in order to design and use the educational resources they render efficient the public funds investments through the common use of the same resources by institutions and professional communities they encourage the development of digital skills, of critical thinking and creativity they improve the curricula and the teaching-learning methodologies, including resources in the public domain, libraries, museums, other cultural organisations the collaboration in the production and use of the resources leads to their validation, to their improved quality they facilitate lifelong learning and social inclusion, by ensuring the open access to resources, otherwise inaccessible to many groups of users. For educators and students, the use of the OER has the following advantages: the OER cover a wide range of domains and topics; materials can be used for teaching, learning by reusing the materials, we can save time and materials allows teachers to participate in the validation, improvement of the resources through the feedback offered after their evaluations and their use in teaching taking part in learning and practice communities realised by blogs, wikis and various social networks promotes user-centered learning and lifelong education; users can create their own portfolio of activities, studies, projects helps to acquire the essential skills for participating in knowledge-based society: personal organisation / development and creativity critical way of thinking skills for solving practical issues collaboration and communication skills. Some notable projects related to OER [57]: Famous universities worldwide, collaborating for the project OpenCourseWare Consortium - http://ocwconsortium.org, facilitate the access to course materials in text, audio and video format, to discussions and exam subjects, the first being MIT in 2001, with the MIT Open Courseware project. The Open University recently launched the Open Learning project.

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OER Commons Open Educational Resources - http://www.oercommons.org: is a project addressing teachers in primary, secondary and post secondary schools, developed by ISKME - Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education and financed by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, with collaborators in the entire world; the project uses Web 2.0 technologies, tags, communities. European SchoolNet EUN http://www.eun.org: has been developing for some years a full-sized initiative for creating an OER portal for teachers and pupils in European schools, called LRE - Learning Resource Exchange http://lre.eun.org: Within the LRE, CELEBRATE - http://celebrate.eun.org/ - is a project financed by EC, under the coordination of the EUN, with 23 participating parteners from 11 countries: education ministries, universities, developers of educational materials, companies producing learning virtual environments. The project resulted in a portal of open educational resources - Learning Objects - LOs ( should be seen as resources with a standard description ): 1350 LOs developed and assessed by 319 schools and 75 teachers from 6 countries. The resources address primary and secondary education. CELEBRATE is continued by CALIBRATE - Calibrating e-Learning in Schools - http://calibrate.eun.org. Recently has been launched the preview version of the collaborative environment LeMill - http://lemill.net/, as part of the CALIBRATE project. LeMill - an open source project, which can be implemented by any school or educational network - has four sections : Content - Learning Objects can be created by use of templates; these are found by tags, language ( Romanian language can be found as well ), target group ( teacher training, school, higher education ); it is possible to translate an existing resource; Activities - includes activities intervening in formal or informal education, their description (what misses is the connection with materials under the first category) - assessment, book, check list, collaboration, concept, teaching, visualization, etc; Tools - open-source tools, with their description and the activities where they can be used (the connection with materials under the first category is missing again); the search is done again by tags - collaboration , communication, idea generation, knowledge building, messages, mindmap, etc; Community - users may be grouped according to interests, can be found by name, language, location, skills, interests, can communicate in forums, and work on a specific resource; Unlike other LOs directories, what makes it interesting is the organisation according to tags, the addition of activities, tools, communities; there are RSS feeds, even for research. 4.2. Suggested actions and systems The educational content which already exists, mainly in AeL, should be used more intensive by teachers and students: connections with curricula, the skills they develop should be more

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clear; encourage and support the sharing of best practices - could be published on the MERY website, and aggregated from other sites, blogs of educators. Partnership with European Schoolnet and eTwinning Schools and participation in projects related to OER, presented above. Schools to be informed and stimulated to participate. It seems that in the autumn Romania will be a partner in the eTwinning programme, with ISE as the national coordinator ( update: in October 1st, Romania has become partner ). Also the possible partnership with Romania appears in European Schoolnet Work Programme 2007 [20]. Create a repository with the educational projects in which Romanian schools and educational organizations have participated, such as Leonardo, Socrates, eContent programmes: trained human resources, gained experience and skills, produced materials could be used, projects could be continued or new ones could be started. Partnership with publishers, broadcasters, libraries, cultural institutions to provide access to their own resources. Implement an online system for collaborative production of open educational resources by teachers and students, based on Web2.0 collaborative technologies. OER can make a valuable contribution to a diversified supply of learning resources, supporting methodological diversity, and promoting the individualization of the learning process: content organized by tags, specifying target groups, disciplines, skills, types of activities in which to be used; define quality criteria; possibility for peer review, user comments and ratings, best practices sharing. It is not necessary that the resource to be created and uploaded on this platform, but it is possible that a link to a resource elsewhere created by user is shared, and then validated with the other users collaborative tools to create materials; templates could be provided community users profiles could include interests, name, location, skills, interests specified and searched by tags; users to be able to work together for producing educational materials, communicating in discussions forums, and using the collaborative tools; support also for blogs, wikis, RSS feeds training self-paced tutorials, but also online courses could be organized for teachers and students on this platform. In general, the teachers training programmes should contain topics related to OER, new licenses and tools to create educational materials in a collaborative manner. Encourage a competitive market for educational resources production, guarantee transparency of supply and equal opportunities to market actors. Define a set of quality criteria: pedagogic principles:effective learning and teaching, the focus from presenting content to engaging learners in productive learning activities. assessment, improve practical and cognitive skills design principles: resource design, accessibility, interoperability. An online system to evaluate the educational software with a database of suppliers could be implemented. A central portal can be created to provide the connections with all the categories of resources above.

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5. Collaboration and Sharing Web2.0 technologies 5.1. Arguments The term Web 2.0 appeared in 2004, during a brainstorming between O'Reilly Media and MediaLive International, when organizing a conference concerning the Web. Web 2.0 or social Web represents the second stage in the development of the World Wide Web and comprises its utilities and services. The Web 2.0 technologies are: RSS, blogs, podcasts, wikis, collaborative bookmark systems, social networks, web APIs, Ajax. The Web 2.0 could be described by the following characteristics [56,57]: it includes a wide range of applications and services that use the Web as a unitary and structured communication platform; it is built on an architecture that encourages the active participation of users; it allows an easy interaction between users with similar interests; it offers users the possibility to: create a content, share it with others, so it allows a stronger interactivity; have an experience closer to desktop applications, with intuitive graphic, agreeble, programmable and, most of all, transparent interfaces, it allows public access to databases through API's; it has the ability to connect various applications or services and to aggregate data from different sources - RSS, blogs; it talks about: socialising the information - a concept about applications and people; the apparition of collaborative tools such as wikis, socialising platforms like MySpace, Hi5, LinkedIn or Second Life, blogs, data and file communication structures, bookmark collections ( like del.icio.us or digg ), video clips ( YouTube ) or images ( flickr ) etc; syndication - RSS and tag structures: eliminating tree classifications and applying tags so that a certain thing does not strictly derive from another, but it may belong to several categories; the increase of usability - improving the users' experience; democratisation of the content and its distribution (the content is created by the user and it is freely distributed); it uses the power of online communities; points to a change in paradigm with reference to the Web. These technologies are used by an important percentage of the young people almost each day, in an informal way, from their computers or mobiles, to communicate, to socialize, to create and share content with the others. The Web2.0 technologies are used more and more in traditional education, but also in continuous or online education under the term eLearning2.0. These technologies offer mechanisms for preparing and creating educational materials, for assessing and analysing the students' progress, for creating informative and formative presentations, for timeplanning, setting the timetable and the activity calendar, for developing projects in collaboration, being participant- / student-centered, for research, for creating communities of interest. There are many studies, research, conferences, ongoing debates going on on blogs, social networks.

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The attributes of the new technologies are: reducing the costs; flexibility in the sense of being able to choose the technologies; an easier and faster access to information, at the time and place when needed; integrating various Web 2.0 technologies in teaching activities; extended information and collaboration possibilities by use of social marking / collaborative bookmark services; sharing best practices using blogs, wikis; not depending on the platform - all you need is a computer, with an Internet browser and a network connection. compatibility with elements of the educational environment and the existing contextual dynamics; reduced level of utilization complexity - minimum abilities of working with the Internet; redistribution of effort so that less time and energy should be dedicated to the information search and management RSS feeds, del.icio.us; the increase in number of utilization methods and the heterogeneity of didactic practices and formation types due to the diversity of the new technologies; possibility of being tested with existing didactic practices, without major chages in the current modus operandi; being largely centered on introducing didactic innovation and not the technology as such; creating digital content; attractive multimedia materials obtained by combining images with sounds, video clips.

Consequently, the adoption of new Web 2.0 technologies by educators is likely to: allow the access to more extended and diversified information and knowledge sources; lead to a considerable increase in documentary research; offer opportunities for introducing new situations in the learning process; shift the focus from teaching to learning; adopt active, participative methods; promote independent work, inventivity, creativity; stimulate co-operation and dialogue by integrating specific web 2.0 collaborative environments; develop participants' autonomy and flexibility; harmoniously combine individual with social learning. The Social software and learning report published by Futurlab, UK last year states [58]:

knowledge is changing, from one in which knowledge is organised in strictly classified 'disciplines' and 'subjects', to a more fluid and responsive practice which allows users to organise it; knowledge is also generated in virtual and cross-institutional settings; educational agendas are shifting to address ideas about how users can create personalised and collaborative knowledge spaces, where learners can access people and knowledge in ways that encourage creative and reflective learning practices that extend beyond the boundaries of the school, and beyond the limits of formal education; for these to flourish schools should offer support for risk-taking, and for dialogue between schools, teachers, parents and children about new approaches to learning that involve collaboration between young people across different times and spaces.

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Summarizing, a recent report of JISC states the following recommendations for educational use of Web2.0 technologies [54]: the integration of VLEs and Web 2.0 technologies might make use of their combined strengths and further exploration assessment and grading in a Web 2.0 world, in which collaboration, knowledge sharing and more constructivist approaches are more common, will need further review Web 2.0 will pose new challenges to the issue of plagiarism and these need to be explored further work is required on understanding the pedagogy implications of these services, to explore further the social aspects of the learning. The teachers who have participated in the pilot programme had no prior knowledge related to Web2.0 technologies, only they knew about blogs, without editing them. They were very enthusiastic in using such technologies during and after the pilot programme; they have created RSS feeds collections, useful resources collections using collaborative bookmarking systems, blogs, wikis, collaborative projects [57]. They have used the experience gained during the pilot programme for the e-Vacanta project, creating blogs such as http://aninoasa.weblog.ro/, http://iscroni.weblog.ro/, http://sinca.weblog.ro/. 5.2. Suggested actions and systems Inform, train, and encourage the teachers and pupils to use Web2.0 technologies: RSS, blogs, podcasts, wikis, collaborative bookmark systems, social networks. Topics such as online plagiarism, new licenses, online security should be discussed with pupils. The educational websites should offer information related to these issues. Provide RSS feeds for all the educational sites developed, for better monitoring by possible users. Promote blogs written by innovators in education. Offer hosting service for educational blogs and wikis, using open source solutions. Encourage and support schools and other educational institutions to use virtual environments for learning and collaboration based on these solutions.

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6. Personalisation of Learning Virtual Learning Environments, eAssessment, ePortfolios 6.1. Arguments Schools should become multi-purpose local learning centres, and should become spaces of collaboration between learners, teachers, parents, community [27-30]:

for pupils:

contribute to the individual development of each pupil, encouraging his / her personal skills and interests assess the pupils achievements, and give feedback for improvements have facilities for adapting the curriculum, for assessing the pupils permit collaboration and communication with pupils, parents, other teachers in the same schools or others support continuous training permit communication and collaboration with the school for supporting the progressing of their children feedback for the curriculum adaptation the the community's needs offer blended training opportunities for the members of community.

for teachers:

for parents:

for community:

6.2. Suggested actions and systems Start with a pilot program to investigate the impact on education of a 21th century open school, having an integrated online platform, based on open source solutions and open source resources and practices:

spaces for communities of learning and interest dynamically created traditional courses supported by a virtual environment with online resources and discussions, being accessible from anywhere, anytime, from home too, open also to parents to monitor their children's progress online tool to assess pupils knowledge and skills, and to provide online guidance and materials for development support for pupils ePorfolios which will be ongoing developed during their lifelong learning; learners set up and develop their own ePortfolio for documenting and reecting on the progress and results of their study work school online resources accessible to the community online projects collaboratively developed with other schools blogs, wikis to share experience.

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6.3. Proposed structure for an integrated online system for schools

Central Server Modules

Proprietary and Collaborative eAssessment ePortfolios Open Educational Spaces Tool for Management Resources Tool Management pupils, Management Unit Unit teachers Open Source Software kits and links, tutorials Discussions User RSS Search Forums Feeds Tool Accounts Blogs ManageWikis ment Unit

School Server Modules

eContent Management Collaborative Tool Spaces ePortfolios Discussions Forums Blogs Wikis User Accounts Management Unit RSS Feeds Search Tool

Facilities for Pupils Access to educational ePortfolio resources, collabora- management tive spaces Skills and knowlegde assessment, feedback for improvements Access to discussions forums and private online discussions with professional school counselors for maximizing personal achievement Contribute to personal / class blog, school website

Facilities for Teachers Pupils assessment Access to educational resources, tools collaborative possibility to adapt spaces with them, to create and pupils, share new resources parents, other Access to teaches Access to self assessment tool, online tutorials and course for continuous training Contribute to personal / class blog, school website

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Facilities for Parents Facilities for Parents Access to information related Monitor their children Access to discussions progress forums with teachers, to school activities counselors, other parents Facilities for Community Access to information related Feedback for the curriculum adaptation Access to online tutorials to school activities the the community's needs and courses Access to specific resources, tutorials

7. Teachers Training flexibility, online courses, new technologies 7.1. Arguments A better education requires teachers who are better and continuously trained, who assume the responsibility of improving continuously their own knowledge and skills, who are motivated, enthusiastic, e-mature, who collaborate, sharing their experiences and learning from the others, from their students too, who innovate, improving support for learners through ICT. The recent communication from EU called Improving the Quality of Teacher Education states that changes in education and in society place new demands on the teaching profession [59]:

as well as imparting basic knowledge, teachers are also increasingly called upon to help young people become fully autonomous learners by acquiring key skills, rather than memorising information; they are asked to develop more collaborative and constructive approaches to learning and expected to be facilitators and classroom managers rather than excathedra trainers. they are required to use the opportunities offered by new technologies and to respond to the demand for individualised learning; and they may also have to take on additional decision-taking or managerial tasks consequent upon increased school autonomy.

To equip the teaching body with skills and competences for its new roles, it is necessary to have both high-quality initial teacher education and a coherent process of continuous professional development keeping teachers up to date with the skills required in the knowledge based society [60]. As with any other modern profession, teachers also have a responsibility to extend the boundaries of professional knowledge through a commitment to reflective practice, through research, and through

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a systematic engagement in continuous professional development from the beginning to the end of their careers. Systems of education and training for teachers need to provide the necessary opportunities for this. As reported by the teachers in the pilot programme survey, they consider they need continuous training, with a more practical and pedagogical approach, with new technologies, with more concrete examples. During the pilot programme, they were very interested to know and to use online tools for collaboration and communication, which are used also after the program end, in the e-Vacanta project. 7.2. Suggested actions and systems

The standard for ICT skills for teachers to take into account the new skills recommended by EC, required to collaborate, to share practice, to use the new technologies, to moderate online environments. Encourage a competitive market for training programmes, guarantee transparency of supply and equal opportunities to market actors. During the training programmes, teachers should be able to know and practice new collaborative and communication technologies. The training programmes for teachers to contain open source solutions presentations and applications, not only proprietary solutions; also OER, new licenses, tools to collaboratively create educational materials. The possibility to acreditate online courses would assure flexible in-service training, assuring the tailoring to the specific needs, and would give examples of good practices Competences developed via formal, informal and non-formal to be recognized, as recommended by EC. Implement an online system to assess teachers ICT competencies and to offer guidance for future development. Peer mentoring and collaboration in online communities with online tutorials and guides, case studies, discussions - assure experience sharing, learning from the others experience. Encourage the use of blogs, wikis to share experience and to continuously learning. Train e-trainers, use the experience of organizations which activate in this domain, in Leonardo, Socrates, and Grundtvig programmes too.

References Romanian Education Policy [1] Strategia Dezvoltrii nvmntului Preuniversitar n perioada 2001 2004, Planificare prospectiv pn n 2010 - http://www.guv.ro/obiective/mec/strategiepreuniv.pdf [2] MEC, Calitate i echitate n nvmntul romnesc, 2004 http://www.edu.ro/index.php/articles/3584

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[3] MEC, Raport asupra starii sistemului national de invatamant, 2005 http://www.edu.ro/index.php/articles/3590 [4] MEC, Strategie Postaderare 2007 2013 (Proiect), 2007 http://www.edu.ro/index.php/articles/7737 [5] Raportului Comisiei Prezideniale pentru analiza i elaborarea politicilor din domeniile educaiei i cercetrii, 2007 - http://www.presidency.ro/index.php?id=8983 [6] The SEI Program - http://portal.edu.ro/index.php/articles/c111/ [7] Istrate.O., Dima, G., Pataki, G., World Bank: Towards Romanian Knowledge Society. Implementation of ICTs in Formal Education. An analytical survey of documents and experiences, 2004 European Commission Programmes and Reports [8] European Commission, DG Education and Training: Cooperation on policy issues http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/pol/policy_en.html [9] European Commission, DG Education and Training: The Education & Training 2010 programme http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/et_2010_en.html [10] European Commission, 2007: A coherent framework of indicators and benchmarks for monitoring progress towards the Lisbon objectives in education and training http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2007/com2007_0061en01.pdf [11] European Commission, DG Education and Training, 2004: Key competences for lifelong learning - http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/doc/basicframe.pdf [12] European Commission: i2010 - Annual Information Society Report 2007 http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/annual_report/index_en.htm [13] European Commission, DG Education and Culture, Study on the returns to various types of investment in education and training, 2005 http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/studies/invest05_en.pdf [14] European Commission, DG Education and Training: Public consultation "Schools for the 21st century", 2007 - http://ec.europa.eu/education/school21/index_en.html European Schoolnet Reports [15] Benchmarking Access and Use of ICT in European Schools 2006: Results from Head Teacher and A Classroom Teacher Surveys in 27 European Countries, http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/i2010/docs/studies/final_report_3.pdf [16] eMapps Project:The use of ICT, games and mobile technology in the New Member States, 2006 - http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/policy/policy_briefings/emappsbrief.htm [17] EENet Online, eWATCH Education in e-Europe Public Policies for ICT in Schools, 2002 http://www.eenet.org/front_content.php?idcat=65 [18] Insight EUN, The ICT Impact Report: A review of studies of ICT impact on schools in Europe, 2007 - http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/misc/specialreports/impact_study.htm [19] Insight EUN, Country reports http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/misc/country_report.cfm

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[20] European Schoolnet Work Programme 2007 http://www.europeanschoolnet.org/shared/data/corporate/pdf/WP2007full.pdf UNESCO Reports [21] UNESCO, Information and communication technologies in schools: a handbook for teachers or how ICT Can Create New, Open Learning Environments, 2005 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001390/139028e.pdf [22] UNESCO, Indicators of ICT Application in Secondary Education of SE European Countries, 2005 - http://www.iite.ru/img/upload/INDICATORS.pdf [23] UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning - http://www.unesco.org/iiep/ [24] UNESCO, ICT in Education - http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.phpURL_ID=2929&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html OECD Reports [25] OECD, ICT and Learning Publications and Documents http://www.oecd.org/findDocument/0,3354,en_2649_34519_1_1_1_1_37441,00.html Other Reports, Standards related to ICT in Education [26] Becta: Key findings for further education colleges based on evidence from the evaluation of the ICT Test Bed Project, 2007 http://www.evaluation.icttestbed.org.uk/files/Key_findings_FE.pdf [27] DfES e-Strategy - 'Harnessing Technology: Transforming learning and children's services', UK - http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/e-strategy/ [28] C2k, Delivering Technology for Learning, Ireland - http://www.c2kni.org.uk/ [29] Department of Education, Australia, Ultranet - Implementation and Managed ICT Services in Government Schools - http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/ultranet/ [30] Ministry of Education, NZ: ICT Strategic Framework for Education http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?layout=document&documentid=11734&data=l [31] National Educational Technology Standards for Students, USA, 2007 http://www.iste.org/inhouse/nets/cnets/index.html NETS for Students: The Next Generation http://www.iste.org/inhouse/nets/cnets/students/pdf/NETS_for_Students_2007.pdf Profiles for Technology Literate Students http://www.iste.org/inhouse/nets/cnets/students/pdf/Student%20Profiles-Draft.pdf Necessary conditions to effectively leverage technology for learning http://www.iste.org/inhouse/nets/cnets/students/pdf/essential-conditions2007.pdf Reports and Studies on Open Source Software [32] European Commission, Enterprise and Industry, Study on the Economic Impact of Open Source Software on Innovation and the Competitiveness of the Information and Communication

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Technologies (ICT) Sector in the EU, Final report, 2006 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/policy/doc/2006-11-20-flossimpact.pdf [33] European Commission, IDABC - Open Source Observatory http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/chapter/452 [34] European Commission, Symposium on use of open source software in EU public administrations, 2001 www.isoc.lu/agenda/evenement/symposium-on-use-of-open-source-softwarein-eu-publicadministrations [35] UNESCO, Free & Open Source Software Portal - http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.phpURL_ID=12034&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html [36] Insight EUN, Open source software for education in the spotlight, 2006 http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/policy/policies/oss_education.htm [37] Insight EUN, Open Content and Source: European Schoolnet Riding the Wave, 2005 http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/misc/specialreports/open_content_source.htm [38] Insight EUN, Why Europe Needs Free and Open Source Software and Content in Schools, 2004 - http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/misc/specialreports/osseurope.htm [39] Becta, UK, Open source software in schools: A study of the spectrum of use and related ICT infrastructure costs, 2005 - http://publications.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=25907&page=1835 [40] Becta, UK, Open Source Software, 2003 http://foi.becta.org.uk/content_files/corporate/resources/technology_and_education_research/open_ source_software.doc [41] European Commission, IDABC: A Brief Overview Open Source Software in Romania, 2005 - http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/5016 [42] European Commission, IDABC: Romania - Successful Open Source conference 'should inspire government', 2007- http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7178 [43] Carmen Holotescu: Open Source in Romanian Education, Checkpoint eLearning http://www.checkpoint-elearning.com/article/4467.html Open Educational Resouces and Practices [44] UNESCO, Forum on the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries, Final report, 2002 - http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001285/128515e.pdf [45] OECD, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), Open Educational Resources - http://www.oecd.org/edu/oer [46] OECD, Giving Knowledge for Free, The Emergence of Open Educational Resources, 2007 http://resources.eun.org/insight/giving_knowledge_for_free.pdf [47] OLCOS - Open e-Learning Content Observatory Services - http://www.olcos.org/ [48] LIFE, EUN, Can European teachers find curriculum related digital learning resources?, 2006 http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/interoperability/life/reports/curriculum.htm Evaluation [49] Evaluation of the ICT Test Bed Project, UK - http://www.evaluation.icttestbed.org.uk

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[50] European Quality Observatory - http://www.eqo.info [51] Olimpius Istrate, Eduational Software Evaluation http://www.1educat.ro/resurse/software_educational/evaluare_software_educational.pdf [52] Carmen Holotescu, Quality in eLearning http://www.timsoft.ro/weblog/index.php?blog=1&title=evaluarea_calitatii_learning_objects Web 2.0 technologies in Education [53] Will Richardson: Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Corwin Press, 2006 [54] JISC, Web2.0 - Ideas, technologies and implications for education, 2007 http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/techwatch/tsw0701b.pdf [55] Quentin D'Souza Web2.0 Ideas for Educators, http://www.teachinghacks.com/audio/100ideasWeb2educators.pdf [56] Carmen Holotescu Ghid eLearning, Editura Solness, 2004 [57] Carmen Holotescu, Seppo Tella: Pilot program materials, 2007 http://www.ecomunitate.ro/moodle [58] Futurelab - Social software and learning, 2006 http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/opening_education/Social_Software_report.pdf Teachers Training [59] European Commission, DG Education and Training, Improving the Quality of Teacher Education, 2007 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1210&format=HTML&language=E N, http://ec.europa.eu/education/com392_en.pdf [60] EC, Common European Principles for Teacher Competences and Qualifications, 2005 http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/doc/principles_en.pdf [61] EUN Insight: Assessment Schemes for Teachers ICT competence, 2005 http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/misc/specialreports/ictcompetencies.htm Other resources on ICT in Education - http://del.icio.us/cami13/_ke